


But did you see the flares in the sky? (Were you blinded by the light?)

by blackjacksdonuts



Series: The Fire's Out (But Still It Burns) [2]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: :), Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - High School, Andrew loves him anyways, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I hope you enjoy it, M/M, Most of the characters are like brief scenes, Neil Josten Is an Idiot, Tagging Properly? Who's she?, This is fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, anyways pls read this I think its Not Bad, anywho, just bare that in mind, no beta we die like men, not really there and then gone., really or else you'll have no context, so read that first, this happens after the fake proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27793264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackjacksdonuts/pseuds/blackjacksdonuts
Summary: Neil’s breath caught in his throat, and he looked at Andrew beside him.Andrew glanced at him with a bored look and seemed to tense.Neil started to play with the ring on his finger, spinning it to get some of his energy out.Andrew glanced down at his hands and the ring, back to his face, and gave a slight nod.Oh. Oh shit.“You alright Neil?” Nicky asked.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: The Fire's Out (But Still It Burns) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028814
Comments: 19
Kudos: 189





	But did you see the flares in the sky? (Were you blinded by the light?)

**Author's Note:**

> TW for swearing! If that's not your jam I would recommend you leave now. they do drop a couple f-bombs as well as a few s-bombs. :)  
> Uhm there were like three people who said, "Hey if you wrote more for this AU I'd read it" and I took that personally so. I am giving you this. Not Beta-ed, of course, because I have little to no self-respect.  
> Any continuity, grammar or spelling errors, please, please let me know!  
> I'll cherish any love that this fic gets but if you could drop some comments I'll hoard them like it's a dragons treasure. Because it is.  
> There's some Twinyard bonding in this too. Just a pinch.  
> Just like last time the song comes from Flares by the Script, which is an All for the Game song if I ever did hear one.

Andrew was pointedly not thinking about it. 

He had given Neil one of his rings this weekend, and he wasn’t thinking about it.

Who _does_ that? It was fun to mess with Aaron by pretending to propose, but why hadn’t he taken the ring back when offered? 

Andrew must really hate himself, or maybe he pissed off some deity in a past life because now he has to suffer knowing Neil has one of _his_ rings.

At least he doesn’t have to see Neil wear it, right?

Wrong.

When Andrew picks Neil up for school on Monday, the sole piece of jewelry Neil wears stands out on his hand as he pulls open the passenger door.

He’d at least switched the hand so that it was on his right hand instead of his left, but he was still wearing it. 

Andrew really should have seen this coming.

Neil’s so strange about gifts. He wasn’t given many in his childhood, so everything he gets from his friends now he hoards and cherishes. He even kept a piece of tape Allison had stuck on his hood one time. 

So of course he’s wearing the ring. Of course he is.

When Neil settled into his seat and greeted Nicky and Aaron, he turned to Andrew.

“What is it?”

“I hate you.”

Neil smirked, the asshole. “That’s no way to talk to your fiance.”

Andrew scowled and rolled his eyes, trying to cover up the butterflies he got in his stomach as Neil said that. 

Nicky squealed from the back seat as Andrew pulled the car back onto the road, distracting Neil from focussing too much on Andrew.

“I almost forgot about that! That’s so funny,” He said, as if he hadn’t said it a million times over the weekend.

Andrew had a feeling today would be a long day.

~

Andrew got to the lunch table first, just barely beating Renee who sat down a moment after him.

“How were your classes this morning?” She asked pleasantly.

Andrew shrugged and picked at his fries. “Mr. Hemmick is an ass.”

“I have to agree. I had him last semester for Religious Studies, and he wouldn’t stop talking about how homosexuality is a sin.”

“Yeah, I remember. He’s no better in Cooking class.”

Andrew reached for his chocolate milk, and Renee’s eyes caught on his hand.

 _Oh no_.

“Where’s your ring?” She asked, pointing at his empty index finger.

“Neil.”

Her face cleared of confusion, and she instead looked slightly concerned.

“Andrew…”

“I know.”

“I think you should tell him.”

“Tell who what?” Nicky said, dropping into the spot next to Renee as Neil circled the table to take the open spot next to Andrew. 

The rest of the group followed not far behind.

“No one, nothing,” Andrew said, glaring at Renee.

She just shrugged apologetically.

“Come on, Andrew, you can tell us! Are you planning on beating someone up, and Renee’s trying to convince you to give them warning?” Matt asked. 

“I’m starting to think about it.” He dead-panned.

Neil grinned, the damned idiot, as Matt took a second to register his words.

When he understood he pouted and turned to Dan. 

“He’s being mean to me,” He whined.

“Andrew, stop being mean to Matt,” Allison declared as she sat down.

“Andrew, keep being mean to Matt,” Aaron said, also sitting down.

From there the table’s conversation dissolved into a bickering match and Andrew looked calmly on at the chaos he had caused.

He was also trying his hardest to ignore the blue eyes staring from beside him.

Finally, with a short glance, he dug his fingers into Neil’s jaw with a tense, “Stop it.”

Neil conceded, turning to the conversation, and picking it up quickly.

Andrew went back to picking at his fries, and when he looked up again, Renee was watching him with an encouraging look in her eyes that he did not like at _all_.

So he grabbed his bag and left to have a smoke break outside.

He knew that Neil was following. He often was. But he didn’t turn to confirm that Neil was following because he didn’t care. _He didn’t_.

Only once he was propped on the trunk of his car, cigarette lit and between his lips, did he risk a glance at the other boy.

Neil was already watching him with a careful look on his eyes.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

_No. Yes. Not with you. If I tell you, you’ll go running. I can’t have you running away, little rabbit._

Andrew shrugged. 

Neil’s face was guarded as he asked, “Is this about the ring?”

Shit. _shit._ How did he know? Was Andrew being too obvious?

“Because if it is, you can have it back,” Neil cut off his spiralling thoughts. “I just kept it on because you didn’t take it back when we were at the mall, and I didn’t want to lose it.”

Andrew stared as Neil extended the damn ring again.

“It’s not about the ring,” He said slowly.

Neil’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“Neil,” He said, drawing in a steadying breath of smoke and bracing himself for what he was about to say. “I’m gay.”

Neil looked confused, like he didn’t understand what that had to do with the conversation.

“Okay. But what-” The bell rang, cutting him off.

“The ring doesn’t bother me,” He said as he ground out his cigarette with his shoe. “Not in the way you’re thinking.”

And then he walked into the school, leaving Neil to consider what he’d said.

~

They had all piled into the car after school, and Andrew was ready to leave this day behind, but Nicky, of course, had different plans.

“Andrew,” Nicky said from the back seat. “You were strangely defensive today at lunch.”

“When isn’t he?” Aaron asked.

“No, no I know, but he usually stares at us until we shut up and leave him alone,” He was leaning between the front seats at this point. “So why was today different?”

The universe _really_ , _truly_ hates Andrew.

He tried to focus on the road, ready to ignore whatever Nicky, and Aaron too it seemed, was about to say.

“I’m thinking the mysterious _him_ might be a crush.” Nicky said it with such authority that Andrew wanted to drive his elbow into his face. 

Thankfully Aaron scoffed and settled back in his seat. “Andrew isn’t even gay.”

The car was dead silent. 

Kevin, Nicky and Neil all knew. Nicky had been the third person he’d come out to after Bee and Renee. 

Kevin knew because he’d walked in on Andrew making out with another student once. He’d launched into a lecture about how it’s easier to stay straight once the other boy had run away, but Andrew had tuned him out.

And Andrew was trying his hardest to ignore the fact that he’d only come out to Neil that day. He’d come out to _Neil_.

And Aaron still didn’t know. He hadn’t told him.

Aaron sat up, looking at everyone in the car and then staring at the back of Andrew’s head.

“You are?” He asked in a quiet voice.

The silence was answer enough.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Andrew met his eyes in the rear view mirror. “Historically speaking, you haven’t always expressed support towards gay people, Aaron.”

Aaron looked like a fish on dry land with his mouth opening and closing like that. He seemed to give up on trying to find something to say, and slumped back into his seat, looking sullen out of the window.

“Anyway,” Nicky said, drawing the attention away from Aaron. “Let's talk about Andrew's crush!” 

“No.”

“So I was right! Tell us about him Andrew! You know you can tell us anything.” 

“He’s entitled to his privacy, Nicky,” Neil jumped in.

“Of course he is! I just want to know one thing about him. Pl- Come on Andrew, just one thing,” Nicky pleaded.

Andrew ground his jaw as he considered. Nicky would probably keep pushing unless explicitly told to stop.

“Well, he’s a fucking idiot,” Andrew said.

“Andrew! You think everyone is an idiot!”

“He’s the biggest idiot I know.”

~

“He’s the biggest idiot I know.”

Neil snorted. Of course Andrew would think the guy he liked was an idiot.

 _Guy he liked_ . Neil wasn’t thinking about how that made him feel. And he certainly wasn’t thinking about the jolt of something like… hope he had felt earlier when Andrew said he was gay. He _wasn’t_ thinking about it. And even if he was, Andrew liked this other guy. The idiot.

So he wasn’t even thinking about thinking about it.

“ _Why_ is he the biggest idiot you know?”

Andrew ground his jaw again, clearly unhappy about being questioned.

“Hey Nicky, he told us-” Neil started.

“Because I practically told him today and he still didn’t realize,” Andrew said, the admission seeming to come out against his will.

Neil jolted and turned to face Andrew as he stared resolutely at the road ahead of them.

“Well, you’re pretty blunt Andrew. If he didn’t get it, then he probably never will, and you deserve better than that,” Nicky declared, seeming pleased at the amount of information he’d gotten.

Andrew nodded tensely but Neil hardly saw it, because his head was spinning.

Andrew had a simple routine, and he followed it pretty much everyday.

He went to his morning classes, sitting off to the side, not talking to anyone there unless it was one of their friend group. He raced his way to the lunch table to get his chair before it filled up and picked at his food the entire time, unless he went on a smoke break. Then he went to his afternoon classes, again not speaking to anyone he wouldn’t normally. And then he waited outside of Neil’s classroom at the end of the day to pick him up and walk him to the car. Sometimes they hung out in the auditorium with the others.

Andrew wasn’t known for making friends so if someone had seen him interacting with anyone outside of the friend group, it would have been the talk of the lunch table.

Which meant that it had to be one of the group. Neil had only seen Andrew alone with two people out of the group today, and if it wasn’t Renee…

Neil’s breath caught in his throat, and he looked at Andrew beside him.

Andrew glanced at him with a bored look and seemed to tense.

Neil started to play with the ring on his finger, spinning it to get some of his energy out.

Andrew glanced down at his hands and the ring, back to his face, and gave a slight nod.

Oh. _Oh shit_.

“You alright Neil?” Nicky asked, jarring him back into the moment.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“Original,” Nicky snorted.

All of the feelings Neil had been crushing down for the past few weeks came rushing back to the surface. He felt like he was going to burst with the pressure of it and shifted in his seat.

Of course, that’s when they reached Neil and Kevin’s house. _Of course_.

Kevin got out, and Neil hesitated, torn between going inside and trying to think through his emotions or staying in the car and talking to Andrew.

Apparently he’d hesitated long enough, because Kevin stuck his head back in.

“Are you coming?”

“Tell dad I’ll be back in time for dinner.” 

“Doesn’t matter, we’re going to theirs for dinner, remember?”

Kevin slammed the car door, and ran up the stairs to the house. 

When he was inside Andrew peeled away from the curb, heading towards his house.

The five minute drive felt like five hours as Neil sat there spinning the ring on his finger over and over again.

Andrew didn’t pull into the driveway, just coasted to a stop on the side of the road instead.

Nicky glanced between them suspiciously, before sliding out of the car after Aaron to head inside.

Andrew turned back onto the road, and refused to look at Neil even when he turned to face him.

They drove in silence until they reached the look-out point that was above the entire town.

Andrew got out as soon as the car stopped and went to the hood to light a cigarette.

Neil followed slowly, sitting down next to him and looking out at the city.

After a couple minutes it was clear that Andrew wasn’t going to say anything.

“I’m an idiot,” He finally said.

“You are,” Andrew agreed, his first words since his admission twenty minutes ago.

Neil turned to watch Andrew’s face as he said, “I’m _the_ idiot, aren’t I.”

Andrew froze, cigarette between his lips as Neil waited for an answer.

Andrew hadn’t looked at him the entire time, instead looking out over the city, and that didn’t change as he looked up at the sky.

“It doesn’t have to change anything,” He finally said.

Neil felt a rush of disappointment. 

“It doesn’t have to. But what if I wanted it to?”

Andrew’s eyes finally snapped to his face, trying to take in the validity of his words.

“You don’t swing.”

“No, I don’t,” he shrugged. “But with the amount I’ve been feeling around you recently, you’d think I was a fucking swingset.”

Andrew sucked in a sharp breath. 

“Don’t say shit like that.”

“Why? I made a promise not to lie to you.”

“Because if you say shit like that, and you mean it, I might kiss you.”

“I wouldn’t stop you.”

“Fucking hell, Neil.”

“What?”

Andrew vaguely gestured at all of Neil as he took one last inhale of his cigarette and ground it out with his shoe.

Then Andrew turned towards him and all of Neil’s breath left his body. Andrew brought his hands up to cup Neil’s face, eyes locked on his lips.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Andrew said, glancing up.

“Good.”

They both leaned forward and met in the middle.

The kiss was… a question and an answer. Every confusing emotion he’d felt over the past few weeks finally made sense as Andrew’s thumb brushed his jaw. It felt like something clicked in his head, like the final puzzle piece sliding into place.

There weren't fireworks going off in his head. The music didn't swell and the camera didn't pan around them.

It was a little messy, and uncoordinated. It was a battle of dominance. Really, it's what he would expect from kissing Andrew.

He was kissing Andrew.

Neil kept his hands by his sides, aware of how much Andrew hated being touched.

After a moment Andrew pulled back, and Neil kept his eyes closed for an extra second. When he opened them Andrew was staring at him with a slightly smug look.

“We get to do that again, right?” Neil asked.

Andrew rolled his eyes. “Junkie.”

“Your junkie,” Neil smirked. Then he realized what he said. “I- I mean, if- if you want that, it’s okay if-”

“Neil.”

“Yeah?” 

“Stop talking.”

“Make me.”

And Andrew _did_.

~

They drove back to Andrew’s house with some time to spare to help with dinner.

When they got inside, Aaron was waiting for Andrew by the stairs.

Neil glanced between them and went into the dining room to find Bee.

Andrew walked past Aaron to go upstairs to his room, knowing he would follow.

Aaron closed the door behind him and sat at the desk chair as Andrew dropped onto his bed. 

They remained in silence as Aaron gathered his thoughts.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron finally said.

Andrew raised his eyebrow.

“I’m sorry I made you feel like you couldn’t come out to me.”

Andrew nodded, an acceptance of his apology.

Knowing that was about as emotional as the two of them would get, Aaron moved on.

“Why the hell did you tell Kevin before me? I know I’m not your favourite person, but I’m like ninety-nine percent sure you hate him more than me.”

Andrew snorted. “He opened a door I thought was locked last year.”

Aaron’s face screwed up in disgust, because any thought of a sibling having sex is disgusting.

Andrew almost laughed, at the expression, but didn’t. He settled for a small smile instead.

“Not _that_. It was some kid from another school. He was there because of the talent competition, and Kevin walked in on me making out with him.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Aaron looked as uncomfortable as Andrew felt.

“Want to agree to never again have any emotional conversations about our love lives, unless strictly necessary?” Aaron asked, extending his hand.

Andrew shook it. “Agreed”

Andrew got up to leave for dinner when Aaron spoke up again.

“Oh wait, one more thing before the deal goes into effect.”

Andrew looked at him.

“It’s Neil isn’t it?” Aaron grinned.

Andrew scowled. “Good thing the deal is already in effect, then.”

“I knew it! Well, Nicky did, but he told me.”

“That sounds suspiciously like talking about my love life, Aaron,” Andrew said as he started down the stairs.

“Love life, what love life?” Nicky said, emerging with Neil from the dining room. “Unless… Oh my god! Aaron! Was I right?”

Everyone in the room turned to look at Aaron, and he glanced between Andrew’s death glare and Nicky’s excited grin.

With an apologetic grin at Andrew, he nodded.

Nicky squealed in joy, turning to Neil, who was cringing, as Andrew glared at Aaron.

“That’s what you were doing!” Nicky shrieked.

“I’m disowning you,” Andrew said

“It’s a good thing that only Bee can do that then,” Aaron responded.

“I can’t believe you weren’t going to tell me!” Nicky continued at 180 decibels. 

“You’re underestimating me,” Andrew dead-panned.

“Am I?” Aaron smiled.

They were interrupted by the front door opening to let Kevin, Abby and David into the house.

Abby detoured into the kitchen, carrying some sort of casserole. 

David and Kevin stopped next to them and David turned to Neil.

“I hear you called me dad, kid.”

Neil considered. “No, I think I just called you dad, not dad kid.”

David scowled as he looked at his son.

“One, leave the dad jokes to me. Two, are you going to give me a hug or something?”

Neil grinned. “You’ll never catch me alive!”

He sprinted up the stairs, and stopped in front of Andrew’s room.

“Get it? Because my last dad… he wanted me dead?”

“That’s not funny, Neil.”

“Whatever you say… Dad.” 

Neil ducked into Andrew’s room, as Nicky called out, “Don’t think you’re off the hook Josten! We will be talking about this!”

“About what?” Kevin asked.

“And that’s my cue,” Andrew muttered, turning back up the stairs.

“Oh, right, you don’t know!” 

Andrew made it to his room and shut his door as Kevin shouted from behind him.

Neil was lounging on his bed as he had done a million times before, but this time instead of trying to keep some distance like he would to keep from doing something stupid, Andrew sat down next to Neil. Because now he’s allowed to do those stupid things. 

Neil. 

Neil is the stupid thing.

He pulled out his phone as Neil settled in beside him, curling into a ball trying to get some sleep like he always does.

He opened his messaging app and created a new group with just Neil, Kevin, Nicky, Aaron, Renee and himself.

He set the name and sent the first text.

**_The Monsters_ **

**_don’t tell the others yet._ **

_19:19_

**_K_ **

_Womb-sharer 19:19_

**_Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!!!_ **

_Jubilance 19:19_

**_Whatever, but I hope you know that we_ **

**_aren’t done talking about this_ **

_Calvin N. 19:20_

**_Why not?????_ **

_Jubilance 19:20_

**_are we gonna fuck with them_ **

_Junkie 19:20_

**_we’re gonna fuck with them_ **

_19:20_

**_Sounds like fun. I’m in._ **

_Womb-sharer 19:20_

**_Agreed_ **

_Calvin N. 1920_

**_What aren’t we telling the others?_ **

_Runner 19:21_

**_Renee my sweet child! Get this!_ **

**_Neil and Andrew are together!_ **

_Jubilance 19:21_

**_A) Finally, Andrew_ **

**_2) Congrats_ **

**_iii) I’m older than you Nicky_ **

_Runner 19:21_

**_You KNEW!?!?!?_ **

_Jubilance 19:22_

Andrew silenced his phone and glanced at Neil who was watching the group chat with joy on his face.

Andrew thought back to the outlook. They had sat there kissing for a good while, and then it had started to get dark, so they got back in the car to drive home. 

“I do want this Andrew. I want this if you do,” Neil had said.

Andrew had glanced over, the urge to deny he wanted anything on the tip of his tongue. 

But Neil’s kisses were still fresh on his mind as he had nodded and said, “Good.”

Andrew stared at Neil, who was still watching his phone, and felt something in his chest that wasn’t a bad feeling, but was a bit uncomfortable.

With a slight jolt he realized it _was_ wanting. He knew he’d wanted Neil but now that he’d had a taste, he realized how deep it went.

He _wanted_ Neil. He wanted to kiss him, to have him nearby, to be able to reach out and touch him. None of it was new, but the force of it was staggering. 

Because now he _could_.

So he _did_.

He reached out and tapped the top of Neil’s phone, drawing his attention to Andrew.

He must have seen what Andrew was thinking because he turned off his phone and smirked.

Andrew rolled his eyes, and reached down, grabbing Neil’s hand and placing it on his head.

Andrew trusted Neil’s not to touch anywhere he wasn’t ready, and the shock in his eyes told him that Neil would respect this boundary until told otherwise.

Kissing Neil now that he had a hold on Andrew was a different experience. Neil ran his fingers through Andrew’s hair, tugging occasionally, and it was new, and Andrew couldn’t say he hated it.

Andrew placed his hand on Neil’s waist, and used it to leverage himself above Neil slightly.

Neil couldn’t seem to understand that Andrew was trying to keep it _mostly_ PG, because their entire families were downstairs, as he deepened the kiss. 

Their mouths had just opened when a knock at the door jolted them apart. 

“I am _not_ going into that room, but Bee wants you to know it’s time for dinner, and that there’s a new rule about doors being open when boyfriends are over,” Aaron said through the thick wood.

Andrew dropped his head back in irritation as he heard Aaron walk back down the stairs.

Neil, seemingly without thinking, pressed a chaste kiss to the underside of Andrew’s jaw and got out of the bed.

Andrew’s entire body reacted to the touch, and he dropped onto the bed, covering his face with his hands.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” He mumbled, glancing at Neil through his fingers.

Neil was standing in his mirror, making sure he was presentable, and he grinned.

“What a happy way to go.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t. Let's go to dinner.”

“Why are you so excited to be bombarded with questions about us.”

“Bee made smashed potatoes.”

Andrew rolled his eyes as he got out of bed.

After a cursory glance in the mirror, they headed downstairs to dinner with their families.

Where they would be asked too many questions about their relationship.

Andrew felt his chest inflate.

At least there was a relationship to be asked about.

**Author's Note:**

> I hoped you liked it.  
> So the nicknames from the groupchat are as follows  
> Womb-sharer = Aaron. I think it's obvious why.  
> Calvin N. = Kevin. Because it pissed him off. The N stands for Night, btw.  
> Jubilance = Nicky! Because the dictionary definition of jubilance is "When you're practically overcome by happiness, you're experiencing jubilance, a celebratory kind of joy" and if that isn't Nicky I don't know what is.  
> Runner = Renee. Because her last name is Walker? Idk leave me alone  
> Junkie = If I have to explain this I am disappointed. But it's Neil :)  
> Please leave me validation.  
> not to seem desperate, but I'm desperate


End file.
